Edgar Allan Poe ‘ s birthday is always cause for weirdness – like strange black-clad figure who leaves roses and cognac at his tomb , but this year , he turned 200 , and things are getting more intense .

One hundred sixty years ago, the beleaguered, impoverished Poe was found, delirious and in distress outside a Baltimore tavern. He was never coherent enough to explain what had befallen him since leaving Richmond, Va., a week earlier. He spent four days in a hospital before he died at age 40.

For many writers and artists living in the latter part of the 19th century , Edgar Allan Poe was must-read . Poe ‘s storytalling , dark themes and literary vision so intriqued Paul Gauguin , Odilon Redon , Edouard Manet , Henri Matisse , and other that they mined the American writer’s repertoire for inspiration for their own work . They were inspired by Poe’s chilling and unforgettable tales . Poe’s impact on them and the literary themes : love and loss , fear and terror , madness and obsession , from “The Raven ” , “The Black Cat ” , ” The Tell- Tale Heart ” ,”The Pit and The Pendulum”

For Edgar Allan Poe, 2009 has been a better year than 1849. After dozens of events in several cities to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, he’s about to get the grand funeral that a writer of his stature should have received when he died . ” Edgar , I haven’t forgotten You ”